Last week, on Friday the 13th, New York’s Music Before 1800 concert series hosted the U.S. premiere of ‘Death of Gesualdo,’ a ghostly retelling of the Renaissance composer’s life and grisly crimes, set to his avant-garde music. Performed by puppets, actors, and the British vocal ensemble the Gesualdo Six, the show is the latest from Bill Barclay, whose ‘Secret Byrd’ was a revelation for putting ancient music in a profoundly living context.

The Sigal Music Museum, in South Carolina, is the only such public collection in the South and includes the oldest-known piano, from the 1770s, that was commercially build and sold in the nascent United States. With performances from its collection and substantive lectures on historical instruments, the Sigal is a treasure trove of musical history.

Fiddle and banjo music played by free and enslaved Blacks before the 1860s is a key element of American musical and cultural history. But the evidence is scant. In ‘Go Back and Fetch It,’ authors Kristina R. Gaddy and Rhiannon Giddens explore more than three centuries of songs in this landmark new book.

In a Letter to the Editor, a soprano reacts to a much-discussed EMAg article on higher education in our field. She say the reporting left out an essential component: the students. ‘As a graduate of two early-music programs, I frequently find myself questioning the value of my degrees.’